Graphene-oxide stabilization in electrolyte solutions using hydroxyethyl cellulose for drug delivery application.

Stabilization of graphene oxide (GO) in physiological solution is performed using hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) to make the resultant nanohybrid suitable for targeted drug delivery purposes. Short and long term stability of GO suspensions with different ionic strengths were assessed using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and zeta potential measurements. Results depicted that HEC effectively stabilized GO in electrolyte solutions and the mechanism of stabilization appeares to be depended on HEC content. Drug loading and release behavior of folic acid (FA) as a model drug, from GO-HEC nanohybrid were studied to assess its application in drug delivery systems. Results showed the nanohybrid could be highly loaded by folic acid. Moreover, HEC content in the nanohybrid played an important role in final application to make it applicable either as a carrier for controllable drug release or as a folate-targeted drug carrier. In addition, according to cytotoxicity results, the nanohybrid showed good biocompatibility which indeed confirms its potential application as a drug carrier.